Not all mages get to raid. Alt toons or non-raid members still want to max their dps so they can be ready to be 'called up' and join a raid without being too far behind in gear.

The purpose of this thread is to accumulate a list of the best WotLK gear available for a level 80 mage that can be attained prior to Raid rewards. The goal is to see how well a mage alt can be geared in a raider's spare time. This includes quest rewards, world drops, crafted/purchased items or dungeon runs.

I'll compile the information into this post. Based on Tyrian's suggestion, we'll include several examples for each slot, prioritized, but with information on how the item is acquired (quest, crafted, dungeon, PVP reward, etc.). When submitting something, be sure to use the red rocket icon to create wowhead ITEM tags in your post so folks can see the details on the items.



HEAD
[Titan-Forged Hood of Dominance] - 40 Wintergrasp Marks of Honor
[Hat of Wintry Doom] - crafted

NECK
[Titanium Spellshock Necklace] From Jewelcrafting
[Choker of Betrayal], customizable neck with red socket
[Necklace of Taldaram] - Old Kingdom - Taldaram
[Emeline's Locket] from quests in Icecrown
[Encircling Burnished Gold Chains] 25 emblems


SHOULDER
[Dark Runic Mantle] BoE drop from Halls of Stone

BACK
[Ancient Dragon Spirit Cape] From The Occulus
[Polished Protodrake Cloak] from the Post-partum Aggression Quest
[Shroud of Dedicated Research] with Kirin Tor Honoured
[Deathchill Cloak] (requires Loremaster of Northrend to craft)
[Dark Soldier Cape] requires Knights of the Ebon Blade - Honored


CHEST
[Ebonweave Robe] From Tailoring
[Spellweave Robe] From Tailoring (if you don't need the Hit)
[Heroes' Frostfire Robe] From 80 Badge of Heroism
[Water-Drenched Robe] - The Violet Hold (Heroic)
[Egg Sac Robes] - Drops at Hadronox (Azjol-Nerub)

WRIST
[Azure Cloth Bindings] From Heroic Violet Hold (Cyanigosa)
[Black Duskweave Wristwraps] (crafted) - paired with the leggings if you don't have better gives a good 2pc bonus


HANDS

ilvl 200 Tailor crafted = [Ebonweave Gloves]
ilvl 200 Tailor crafted = [Spellweave Gloves]
ilvl 200 Heroic Nexus (Keristrasza) = [Gloves of Glistening Runes]
[Heroes' Frostfire Gloves] From 60 Bagdes of Heroism


BELT
[Plush Sash of Guzbah] 40 Badge of Heroism
[Sash of the Wizened Wyrm] with Wyrmrest Accord Honoured, nice chunk of +hit as well.
[Girdle of Bane] - UP - Ymiron
[Flowing Sash of Order] from heroic Halls of Lightning



LEGS
[Woven Bracae Leggings] From Heroic Halls Of Lightning (Loken)
[Sorrowgrave's Breeches] drops from the first boss in heroic Utgarde Pinnacle
[Black Duskweave Leggings] (crafted) and pair nicely with wrist for a 2pc bonus

FEET
[Sandals of Crimson Fury] From Wrymrest rep (Exalted)
[Cleric's Linen Shoes] From Heroic Nexus


RING
[Ring of Northern Tears] from JC
[Titanium Spellshock Ring] from JC
[Band of Guile] - Strat - Chest
[Annhylde's Ring] - UK - Ingvar
[Signet of Hopeful Light] - Argent Crusade - Exalted
[Ring of Temerity] from a quest starting in Coldarra Transitus Shield completed in normal Occulus and obtainable as soon as level 77
[Signet of the Kirin Tor] Available at the Daerlan Jewlelry vendor (8500g down to 6800 depending on rep)



TRINKET
[Figurine - Twilight Serpent] From JC
[Mark of the War Prisoner] From Heroic Violet Hold
[Forge Ember] gives quite a bit of crit. It also seems to procs on doing stuff like bandaging and cooking.
[Sundial of the Exiled] - Badges (40)
[Cannoneer's Fuselighter] - The Last Line Of Defense - Quest - World of Warcraft


WEAPON
[Flameheart Spell Scalpel] with Kirin Tor Revered - given that mages start at Friendly with them, pretty fast to get.

OFF-HAND
[Ward of the Violet Citadel] - Emblem of Heroism (25)
[Telestra's Journal] - The Nexus (Heroic)
[Temple Crystal Fragment] - Drak'Tharon Keep (Heroic)
[Bonecaster's Endgame]from a quest in Icecrown, "Banshee's Revenge"
[Seal of Valgarde] - Utgarde Pinnacle (Normal)
[Tome of Salramm] - The Culling of Stratholme (Normal)

WAND
[Ancient Measuring Rod] Loken, Halls of Lightning
[Wand of the San'layn] - Utgarde Keep (Heroic) (ranked above [Rod of the Fallen Monarch] in Rawr)
[Rod of the Fallen Monarch] Anub'arak, Heroic Azjol-Nerub
[Wand of Blinding Light] - quest reward from The Cleansing Of Jintha'kalar in Dragonblight



Note 1: clearsimpleplain created a nice list of items that are of a bit lower level but they don't require any dungeon runs: Solo List

Note 2: deleted some of the gloves. Too many choices for a thread that's supposed to be about the 'best'. You can read through this thread and see some of the other gloves suggested.

Not to be negative, because I understand what you are trying to do here for some individuals. But excluding Dungeon drops excludes the need to help people prepare for raiding. I would only call up a stand by that was grinding the best non raid gear available and not quest rewards.

All solo play usually does not translate well to raid environments.

Craftable items will trump some dungeon drops, but it still would be Craftable > Dungeon > Quest.

Just my opinion though.

Yeah if you're looking for pre-raid or alt gear, I'm not sure what the purpose of excluding dungeon loot is? Since the majority of decent loot at level cap comes from dungeons, and they're quite doable by non-raiding characters.

Good point.

I was originally thinking that an alt would not have time to gear up via dungeon runs. But, to your point, excluding that would probably mean they are too undergeared.

You might put them in pairs or triplets.
3 best crafted, then 3 best dungeon drops (include/exclude heroics), 3 best quest rewards (good quest rewards will be group quest rewards, so it's not solo stuff either).
I'd shoot for at least the 2 best ones, 1 with and 1 without +hit.

Also, reputation rewards are also mostly tied to dungeon crawling. You can solo Ebon Hold rep easily, Argent Crusade has some, Wyrmrest one daily I think. You get some Kirin Tor rep from profession dailies I think.
It's hard to separate rep gear from dungeons at least.

Also, there's the issue of "Cave Defender Epics". I think some of neck/cloak/bracer/belt/boots/rings can be received without any arena points or rating.

It would be a more useful topic if you included all pre-raid categories, which then allows players to pick the most appropriate gear obtainable for their playstyle and time committment. As such, I would include at least one item from each of the pre-raid categories: quested / crafted / 'easily obtained' PVP items / reputation items -> normal instance drops-> heroic instance drops -> Emblem of Heroism purchases. This would be a good resource in future if fleshed out fully. Small example:

Hands Slot Best-to-worst, Pre 10/25 man:

If we had similar tables for every slot like that, it'd make gearing up (especially for new players / mage alts) a breeze.

I just went through and look at the gear that I will be getting while I wait my more people in my guild to hit 80 to do 25 mans.

Head: I'll be keeping my T5 head till T7 content
Neck:[Titanium Spellshock Necklace] From Jewelcrafting
Shoulder: [Dark Runic Mantle] BoE drop from Halls of Stone
Cloak: [Ancient Dragon Spirit Cape] From The Occulus
Chest: [Ebonweave Robe] From Tailoring Or [Heroes' Frostfire Robe] From 80 Badge of Heroism
Wrist: [Azure Cloth Bindings] From Heroic Violet Hold (Cyanigosa)
Gloves: [Ebonweave Gloves] From Tailoring or [Heroes' Frostfire Gloves] From 60 Bagde of Heroism
Waist: [Plush Sash of Guzbah] 40 Badge of Heroism
Legs: [Woven Bracae Leggings] From Heroic Halls Of Lightning (Loken)
Feet: [Sandals of Crimson Fury] From Wrymrest rep (Exalted, thanks Enthorn)
Rings: [Ring of Northern Tears] and [Titanium Spellshock Ring] Both from JC
Trinkets: [Figurine - Twilight Serpent] From JC and [Mark of the War Prisoner] From Heroic Violet Hold

Cloak:[Polished Protodrake Cloak] from the Post-partum Aggression Quest is a good cloak that is particularly good as it have a good mix of damage stats.

Trinket: [Forge Ember] gives quite a bit of crit. It also seems to procs on doing stuff like bandaging and cooking.

Neck: [Choker of Betrayal], customizable neck with red socket

The neck and cloak are both quest rewards, so you do not have to depend on RNG to get them.

edit: double posting

Weapon : [Flameheart Spell Scalpel] with Kirin Tor Revered - given that mages start at Friendly with them, pretty fast to get.
Cloak : [Shroud of Dedicated Research] with Kirin Tor Honoured
Belt : [Sash of the Wizened Wyrm] with Wyrmrest Accord Honoured, nice chunk of +hit as well.

There is also [Deathchill Cloak] (requires Loremaster of Northrend to craft) a really nice cloak with superior Itemization and [Hat of Wintry Doom] which is about as good DPS as T6 but with higher Stam/Int.

As the item tooltip says, it requires exalted status, and I can confirm it as well (as I just looked at these last night). But, as a side note, all epic items from reputation vendors require exalted status to purchase. I can't think of any epics that only require a revered standing. Could be wrong, of course, but nonetheless. As a substitute though, you can use [Cleric's Linen Shoes]. I'll be grinding Kirin Tor rep, so Wyrmrest will have to wait.

I am at work So I really cannot link Item's, but there is a kick ass wand from Heroic Utgarde Keep the first boss that I currently use, it has haste damage and hit on it. I also have another really good wand from Heroic Azjol-nerub, he drops a nice wand with some good ol' crit on it.


The last boss in Heroic Stratholm, Malganis, he drops a nice caster ring has haste and damage on it. Hope that helped

Also, for 25 emblems of heroism , go buy the offhand to go with that Dagger from Kir in Tor Revered.

Good Offhand: [Bonecaster's Endgame] from a quest in Icecrown, "Banshee's Revenge"

Wands:
[Ancient Measuring Rod] Loken, Halls of Lightning
[Rod of the Fallen Monarch] Anub'arak, Heroic Azjol-Nerub

I looked into the Deathchill Cloak real quick, and the stat compared to the other cloaks just look incredible.. so as a result I paid some guy 150g yesterday to craft that for me w/ my mats. The mats aren't too bad either... I think the challenge is more or less finding someone w/ the recipe (at the moment at least).

I know this is a list for best non-raid mage gear.. but if you're like me looking to make some upgrades to your crap gear and don't have things like 80 badges yet, some decent gear to hold you through for chest/wrist/legs, and pretty easily attainable, include:
Legs -- [Black Duskweave Leggings]
Wrist -- [Black Duskweave Wristwraps]
Chest -- [Black Duskweave Robe] or [Robes of Crackling Flame]

The above blue crafted items is especially nice for those - like myself - who might be skilling up tailoring. In a way, mind as well make/skill up on something you can use

And... so it looks like the Ebonweave is better than Spellweave. So do people think it's worth me re-specializing in shadow spec rather than spellweave for tailoring?

[edit]
After reading above a little, the neck recommendation for [Choker of Betrayal] is nice, but due to the new hit cap, I had the issue of having to look for more items w/ +hit.. and have ended up replacing (at least for the time being, until I get more hit) my BT neck w/ [Emeline's Locket] (quest reward in Icecrown), gemmed w/ +hit gem.

A few additions I've looked at:

[Wand of the San'layn] - Utgarde Keep (Heroic) (ranked above [Rod of the Fallen Monarch] in Rawr)
[Traditionally Dyed Handguards] - Halls of Lightning (Heroic)
[Water-Drenched Robe] - The Violet Hold (Heroic) (only Ebonweave, Spellweave, and Frostfire top this)

Off-hands:

[Ward of the Violet Citadel] - Emblem of Heroism (25)
[Telestra's Journal] - The Nexus (Heroic)
[Temple Crystal Fragment] - Drak'Tharon Keep (Heroic)
[Seal of Valgarde] - Utgarde Pinnacle (Normal)
[Tome of Salramm] - The Culling of Stratholme (Normal)

Does this actually proc off of spells? I was under the impression that the item must specifically say spells.

Just buy tabard and go heroics, took me a bit over a day to get exalted with Kirin Tor and I'm soon revered Wyrmrest accord.

A rather easy ring to get is [Ring of Temerity] from a quest starting in Coldarra Transitus Shield completed in normal Occulus and obtainable as soon as level 77.

This ring is overpowered for its "item level", I would even think it's rather messed up since it's a lot better then most ilvl200 rings.

Here is a list of semi-easily obtained items that are pre-naxx10/25. (my goal gear)

Head:
[Hat of Wintry Doom] +44 hit

Neck:
[Encircling Burnished Gold Chains] +25 hit

Shoulders:
[Dark Runic Mantle] +0 hit

Back:
[Deathchill Cloak] +0 hit

Chest:
[Water-Drenched Robe] +62 hit

Bracers:
[Azure Cloth Bindings] + 0 hit

Weapon:
[Flameheart Spell Scalpel] +34 hit

Offhand:
[Ward of the Violet Citadel] +38 hit

Wand:
[Wand of the San'layn] +14 hit

Gloves:
[Gloves of Glistening Runes] +0 hit (+20 enchant)

Belt:
[Sash of the Wizened Wyrm] +40 hit

Legs:
[Woven Bracae Leggings] +0 hit

Boots:
[Sandals of Crimson Fury] +0 hit (+12 enchant)
EDIT: [Sandals of Crimson Fury] or [Stone-Worn Footwraps]? Im leaning toward the footwraps since crit is nice but is it worth the stats/socket/damage i'd lose?

Ring 1:
[Ring of Northern Tears] +31 hit

Ring 2:
[Titanium Spellshock Ring] +0 hit
Finally found someone to make this.

Trinket 1:
[Sundial of the Exiled] +0 hit

Trinket 2:
[Mark of the War Prisoner] +73 hit

Total:
399 hit (Hit capped for 3% given [Elemental Precision] & just to be safe if there is no Shadow Priest or Totem, also for when they fix FFB.
0 gems - So you can gem for whatever you would like.
2 enchants - +20 hit (Enchant Gloves - Precision) +12 hit (Enchant Boots - Icewalker)
You could replace some of these enchants if you'd like, but you may lose hit cap.
You could also replace any of the +0 hit gear for other stuff of your choice (haste or crit or spell power).

Hey guys

No one has mentioned this as a possible head item [The Argent Skullcap]

It's got a lot of +hit and decent +sp and is an easily obtainable quest reward. It does lack gems compared to [Hat of Wintry Doom]

I would guess it depends on the rest of your gear, but as a rule of thumb any head piece with a meta gem is better then one without (that of course depends on how big a difference there is between the pieces).

That however is the wrong answer; the right one is it depends, and after so long a time people still ask.

Use Rawr: Rawr - Home

EDIT: Just loading your character in rawr and replacing the head pieces (and gemming for 2 blue gems), the meta gem gives around 5% increase in dps.